April 4, 2006
Catholic Church in Britain Lobbies Against Assisted Suicide Measure
by Al Webb
Religion News Service
The Roman Catholic Church is launching a major campaign in England and Wales to try to stop Britain's Parliament from legalizing physician-assisted suicide, but it may have a tough fight on its hands.
Archbishop of Cardiff Peter Smith, who is spearheading the Catholic drive, told London's Daily Telegraph newspaper that bishops are sending out
some 500,000 anti-euthanasia brochures and DVDs, blanketing every church in the two regions.
The controversial bill, which is expected to come up for debate in the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, in May, would allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicines to terminally ill patients. Many in Britain support it.
It is similar to the state of Oregon's "death with dignity" law that permits the terminally ill to end their lives with a lethal prescription. The U.S. Supreme Court in January (2006) upheld that legislation, rejecting Bush administration attempts to punish physicians who prescribe the
overdoses.
The Church of England has already signaled that it is urging its members to lobby against the bill. But Archbishop Smith acknowledges that religious
bodies are going to need support from the public at large if the assisted suicide legislation is to be beaten back.
"It's all very well for bishops to be giving out instructions," he said of the Catholic campaign, "but we need ordinary Catholics to go to peers (in
the House of Lords) and MPs (elected members of Parliament) and say we do not want this law."
A public opinion poll conducted by The Daily Telegraph last year suggested that 87 percent of Britons would back a change in the law to give
terminally ill people the right to determine how and when they ended their lives, even if it means getting assistance to commit suicide.
